Becoming the Sorcerer

Step 11: Something Lost

Aldin stepped out of the portal, the Inferno house standing tall and familiar before him. Yet, the scene was starkly different from the desolation he had left behind. The yard, once silent and empty, buzzed with life—children's laughter filled the air as they played, and gardeners tended to the lush greenery. It was late in the day, but the sunlight still flitted around playfully on the face of the house. This can't be right. Aldin's mind reeled. The quiet void had transformed into a vibrant tableau, a surreal shift that set his nerves on edge.

He hurried up the porch steps and through the front door, propelled by a mix of confusion and urgency. The kitchen was alive with the mundane—Luna stood there, washing dishes, her hands covered in soap bubbles. Delphine and Melissa, however, were conspicuously absent.

"Aldin! You just disappeared on us. You've missed Delphine's famous apple pie," Luna said, her tone light and carefree, unaware of the storm brewing in Aldin's head.

"Disappeared? But I've been... Where was everyone?" The words tumbled out of him, laced with a barely contained panic.

"We've been here. Where else would we go?" Luna replied, pausing mid-scrub to give him a puzzled look.

"Are you okay? You're pale as a ghost," she added, concern creeping into her voice.

Aldin locked eyes with her, his brow furrowed, the weight of his recent experiences etched into his face.

"What happened?" Luna asked, sensing the gravity of the situation.

Aldin spilled his story, his voice a mix of bewilderment and fear. Luna listened intently, her expression growing more worried with each word.

"Does my mom know any of this?" she inquired after he finished.

"No, you're the first person I've talked to."

"Then we need to hit the books. The library might have some clues on how Corthus pulled that off. I've got a theory, but let's get some proof."

"Don't we need to tell Melissa and Delphine? They ought to know what's going on," Aldin argued.

"We'll tell them, sure. But first, don't you want to get to the bottom of this?"

He nodded, the thirst for understanding pushing aside his reservations.

"Alright, let's go," she said with a decisive nod, leading the way.

In the library, Aldin watched Luna disappear between rows of ancient books. He sat down at a table in the center, surrounded by volumes that held secrets of magic beyond his wildest dreams.

While waiting, a woman in a deep red robe passed by, herding a group of children. Her face was half-hidden, but their eyes met for a fleeting moment—a silent acknowledgment passed between them. She offered a small smile, then turned away, herding the children through a door on the far side of the room.

Luna returned, her face bright with an epiphany.

"It's got to be a pocket dimension. That's the only thing that makes sense," she exclaimed, her voice resonating in the quiet of the library.

Aldin's question lingered, tinged with confusion and an unsettling sense of familiarity with the woman he had glimpsed.

"Pocket dimensions," Luna explained with a somber edge to her voice, "are hidden slices of space, stitched into the very fabric of our world yet separate from it. They're refuges for secrets, traps for foes, existing in the liminal spaces between here and nowhere. They're places out of sync with time and reality, usually filled with puzzles meant to bewilder."

Aldin recalled the stillness he'd experienced. "It felt like time had stopped. And the silence outside... it was as if the whole world was holding its breath."